The issue of illegal surveillance of
U.S. citizens by our own government is one of the more pressing and important
issues that we face today. It is important enough to me that I am spending part
of a Saturday afternoon writing and sending this email to virtually everyone
whose email address I have! I spent two and a half years of my military service
overseas doing the kind of surveillance that is happening to us in our own
country today. The difference between that and what the NSA (and other
government agencies) are doing today is that when I was in that line of business
the surveillance was being conducted outside of the U.S. and not, so far as I
know, to Americans. But I have a pretty good idea of what is happening now and
how it is being done.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act gives
the FBI the power to require "the production of any tangible things
(including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an
investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine
intelligence activities. The function of 215 is to authorize "Access
to records and other items under the foreign intelligence surveillance act." (A
copy of Section 215 is attached; it may have been modified since this version
but it has not weakened the powers of PAT). Title VII, Section 702 (and other
relevant sections of the Foreign Service Intelligence Act) requires FBI agents
to swear in an affidavit before a FISA court (which is not open to the public,
as are the proceedings of our civil and criminal courts) that the surveillance
being proposed is for the purpose of collecting intelligence-related information
about terrorism by reading our mail, listening to phone conversations, reading
faxes, etc. Once this simple affidavit is made, a FISA letter (essentially a
warrant) is issued to the agent, authorizing the surveillance sought.

In my opinion, parts of FISA
and the Patriot Act violate the First and Fourth amendments to the Constitution,
regarding freedom of speech and freedom from illegal search and seizure. I
believe each and every opportunity to repeal these sections of FISA and PAT
should be seized and acted upon relentlessly until they are repealed. This is
only a beginning, but it's a good one. We need to take back the freedoms that
were so egregiously eroded after 9/11, and repealing sections 215 and 702 is
essential in doing this.

I have only touched on a
small part of the matter in this letter, in the hopes that it will serve as a
beginning, however small, to righting the wrongs of PAT and FISA. If you
don't understand the legal aspects of these issues, or want more information,
it's available Online.

This is how we'll win back our privacy

Do not forward: The links will open a
page with your information already
filled in.

Dear Friends,

7 Votes. That’s how close we came Wednesdaynight
to rolling back the NSA’s massive dragnet
surveillance program.

With tens of thousands of calls,
signatures and emails from ACLU
supporters—and more from key partners—we
helped push an amendment sponsored by Rep.
Justin Amash that would have reined in the
NSA to the brink of passing.

Our friends in Congress said that their
phones were ringing off the hook on
Tuesday andWednesday,
and that it took a last-ditch effort—and
some serious back-room dealing—by
opponents of the bill to keep it from
passing.

This is great news. It means that
for the first time ever, we have a
critical mass of allies in Congress (205,
in fact!) who we can call on to stand up
for our privacy the next time we have a
chance to rein in the NSA. And that chance
is coming soon. Here’s how we’re going to
get there:

We’re making a big push over the next few
weeks while members of Congress are back
in their home districts to show them that
Americans from across the political
spectrum want to roll back the
surveillance state. Every single
signature we can add to this petition
helps build our case.

We’re also going local. Don’t be surprised
if local ACLU affiliates are in touch in
the coming days and weeks asking us all to
crank up the pressure on our
representatives while they’re back home.

And at the same time, we’re challenging
the NSA surveillance program in federal
court—we believe their massive spying
operations are unconstitutional and our
lawyers are working hard to prove it. We
held the opening hearing in ACLU v.
Clapper yesterday, but this case may
take a long time to litigate.